Case Number 14508: Small Claims Court

Never Cry Werewolf

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All Rise...

Judge Brett Cullum watches as Hercules and Buffy take on the wolf next door.

The Charge

The new neighbor wants to have you for dinner.

The Case

You could call this one Fright Night Part 3, and it wouldn't insult
anybody. Never Cry Werewolf is well aware it is working with a ripped off
plot, and would tell anyone who cared to ask it is a horror-comedy homage to
other works such as Rear
Window, Dracula, Cursed, and Fright Night. The plot is about a
girl (Nina Dobrev, Degrassi: The Next Generation) who becomes convinced
her next door neighbor is a werewolf (Peter Stebbings, K-19: The Widowmaker). Nobody will believe the
guy with hairy palms is killing local residents, and she eventually seeks out
the help of a late night cable television personality (Kevin Sorbo, Hercules:
The Legendary Journeys). Yeah, we 've been here before where nobody will
believe the "crazy" teen who thinks the next door house is owned by a
monster. Fortunately for Never Cry Werewolf, horror fans are fine with
recycling and remakes since that seems to be the bulk of the genre. The only new
twists come as Never Cry Werewolf plays fast and loose with monster
mythology, introducing new elements to the lore never seen before. When did mist
follow werewolves? Also included is an idea lycanthropes can change at will if
they get the skin off the neck of a convicted criminal, are protected by black
dogs, have hairy palms when they are human, have cat-like glowing eyes, and can
use mind control on members of the opposite sex.

Never Cry Werewolf was produced on the cheap as a "direct to
DVD" type feature that made its debut on the Sci Fi Channel. The special
effects are low tech, ranging from the typical "guy in a suit" to the
same cheap CGI we're seeing too much of these days. You won't be going in to
this one for the werewolf effects or innovation in gore. It has a television
feel to it, and quite often comes off as a budget version of Buffy the
Vampire Slayer or Ginger Snaps.
As bad as the borrowed plot and cheesy special effects are, the performances
really aren't that terrible. Nina Dobrey is good-looking, and she commits to the
idea of playing the spunky girl heroine as if she's in a better scripted
production. Peter Stebbings makes a good werewolf, and his human form is scary
enough to almost make up for when his character turns in to a dude in a wolf
suit. It's also fun to see Kevin Sorbo back on the screen as a scaredy cat big
game hunter who is actually just an actor who has no courage to face the big bad
creature.

The DVD is bare bones offering nothing but its main feature and some
trailers. Visually, things are passable with okay black levels and good color
control for the image. The surround sound track does enough to add some
atmosphere, but it is nothing special either. With a lack of supplements, we get
no explanation of why the film was made, and can only guess at why anybody would
want to remake Fright Night with a chick who sees werewolves next
door.

In short, other movies did all of this better: Fright Night is still
the horror comedy king of teens seeing monsters in their neighborhood, Ginger
Snaps is a far better feminist take on the wolf legend, and Buffy the
Vampire Slayer features a stronger female hunter character who takes on big
bads with a crossbow. Never Cry Werewolf is simply a somewhat
entertaining reminder there are better things out there to pop in to your DVD
player. The cast does a fine job with selling what is otherwise a retread of
things we've seen before. I'd say this one is a rental or cheap purchase if you
are a fan of the horror comedy genre, or have always wanted to see Hercules team
up with Buffy to take on furry beasts. This one doesn't amount to much other
than an okay ninety minute diversion to tide us over until better werewolf
movies come back in to vogue.